BY DAN
KENNEDY
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Monday, May 31, 2004
IF YOU BROADCAST, THEY WILL
LISTEN. Chaos and a lack of money aside, Air
America Radio is coming
along, reports
Jacques Steinberg in today's New York Times. Steinberg
writes:
Despite the intrigue
concerning its management - and the abrupt pulling of its
programming last month from stations in Chicago and Los Angeles,
in a contract dispute - there are early indications that, where it
can be heard, Air America is actually drawing listeners. WLIB-AM
in New York City, one of 13 stations that carry at least part of
Air America's 16 hours of original programming each day, even
appears to be holding its own with WABC-AM, the New York City
station and talk radio powerhouse that is Mr. Limbaugh's
flagship.
For example, among listeners
from 25 and 54, whom advertisers covet, the network estimates it
drew an average listener share (roughly a percentage of listeners)
of 3.4 on WLIB in April, from 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. on weekdays,
according to the company's extrapolation of figures provided by
Arbitron for the three months ended in April. (Arbitron, which
does not provide ratings in monthly increments, said the network's
methodology appeared sound, although such figures were too raw to
translate to numbers of listeners.)
By contrast, according to Air
America's figures, WABC-AM drew an average share of 3.2 during the
same period in April for the same age group. That time period
includes the three hours in which Mr. Limbaugh was pitted head to
head against Mr. Franken.
That's a good base to build on, but
it would certainly help if Air America weren't so strapped for cash
that Franken is currently working for free.
Last week, I did some extended
checking-in for the first time since Air America's launch, listening
in on the network's website. Morning Sedition is still pretty
bad. The hour that I was listening was "highlighted" by an interview
with an Iraq-war veteran who talked about mistakenly blowing away
civilians at a checkpoint. It could have been powerful, but in the
inexpert hands of the show's hosts it came off as callow.
Unfiltered was so-so; Chuck D was interviewing some guy who is
the youngest member of the legislature in New York's Nassau County.
Zzzzz.
The O'Franken Factor, on the
other hand, seemed greatly improved. Al Franken's understated humor
was coming through much more clearly than I remember from before. His
guest was conservative-pit-bull-turned-liberal-pit-bull David Brock,
who apparently comes on regularly to talk about his new website,
MediaMatters.org.
Brock is currently campaigning to
get Armed Forces Radio to drop Rush Limbaugh from its taxpayer-funded
service, arguing that Limbaugh's tee-hee take on the horrors of Abu
Ghraib is not only a direct contradiction of White House policy, but
that it represents a danger to the troops as well.
Pretty good stuff. I just wish it
wasn't such a pain
in the ass to capture the
stream so that I can listen to it in my car.
A NEW TYPE OF OUTSOURCING.
Scott Allen reports
in today's Boston Globe:
Harvard Medical School
plans to break ground today on a branch in the Persian Gulf that
will help oversee a massive "healthcare city" in the United Arab
Emirates, the latest in a wave of US-Arab medical projects that
was accelerated by the post-Sept. 11 restrictions on travel to the
United States by the Middle East's elite.
This can't be good for the local
economy.
posted at 8:05 AM |
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Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
